• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.93-110
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• 2015

The thermomechanical bending response of anti-symmetric cross-ply composite plates is investigated by the use of the simple four variable sinusoidal plate theory. The theory accounts for sinusoidal distribution of transverse shear stress, and satisfies the free transverse shear stress conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without using shear correction factor. By dividing the transverse displacement into bending and shear parts, the number of unknowns and governing equations for the present theory is reduced, significantly facilitating engineering analysis. The validity of the present theory is demonstrated by comparison with solutions available in the literature. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the behavior of the system. The influences of aspect ratio, side-to-thickness ratio, thermal expansion coefficients ratio and stacking sequence on the thermally induced response are studied. The present study is relevant to aerospace, chemical process and nuclear engineering structures which may be subjected to intense thermal loads.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.223-244
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• 2016

In this paper, a higher order shear and normal deformation theory is presented for functionally graded material (FGM) plates. By dividing the transverse displacement into bending, shear and thickness stretching parts, the number of unknowns and governing equations for the present theory is reduced, significantly facilitating engineering analysis. Indeed, the number of unknown functions involved in the present theory is only five, as opposed to six or even greater numbers in the case of other shear and normal deformation theories. The present theory accounts for both shear deformation and thickness stretching effects by a hyperbolic variation of ail displacements across the thickness and satisfies the stress-free boundary conditions on the upper and lower surfaces of the plate without requiring any shear correction factor. Equations of motion are derived from Hamilton's principle. Analytical solutions for the bending and free vibration analysis are obtained for simply supported plates. The obtained results are compared with three-dimensional and quasi- three-dimensional solutions and those predicted by other plate theories. It can be concluded that the present theory is not only accurate but also simple in predicting the bending and free vibration responses of functionally graded plates.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.75 no.5
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• pp.633-642
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• 2020

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are known as intelligent methods for modeling the behavior of physical phenomena because of it is a soft computing technique and takes data samples rather than entire data sets to arrive at solutions, which saves both time and money. ANN is successfully used in the civil engineering applications which are suitable examining the complicated relations between variables. Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are advanced composites that successfully used in various engineering design. The FGMs are nonhomogeneous materials and made of two different type of materials. In the present study, the bending analysis of functionally graded material (FGM) beams presents on theoretical based on combination of mixed-finite element method, Gâteaux differential and Timoshenko beam theory. The main idea in this study is to build a model using ANN with four parameters that are: Young's modulus ratio (E_t/E_b), a shear correction factor (k_s), power-law exponent (n) and length to thickness ratio (L/h). The output data is the maximum displacement (w). In the experiments: 252 different data are used. The proposed ANN model is evaluated by the correlation of the coefficient (R), MAE and MSE statistical methods. The ANN model is very good and the maximum displacement can be predicted in ANN without attempting any experiments.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.703-717
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• 2015

In this paper, a simple n-order refined theory based on neutral surface position is developed for bending and frees vibration analyses of functionally graded beams. The present theory is variationally consistent, uses the n-order polynomial term to represent the displacement field, does not require shear correction factor, and gives rise to transverse shear stress variation such that the transverse shear stresses vary parabolically across the thickness satisfying shear stress free surface conditions. The governing equations are derived by employing the Hamilton's principle and the physical neutral surface concept. The accuracy of the present solutions is verified by comparing the obtained results with available published ones.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.311-325
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• 2018

This article presents the bending analysis of FGM rectangular plates resting on non-uniform elastic foundations in thermal environment. Theoretical formulations are based on a recently developed refined shear deformation theory. The displacement field of the present theory is chosen based on nonlinear variations in the in-plane displacements through the thickness of the plate. The present theory satisfies the free transverse shear stress conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without using shear correction factor. Unlike the conventional trigonometric shear deformation theory, the present refined shear deformation theory contains only four unknowns as against five in case of other shear deformation theories. The material properties of the functionally graded plates are assumed to vary continuously through the thickness, according to a simple power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents. The elastic foundation is modeled as non-uniform foundation. The results of the shear deformation theories are compared together. Numerical examples cover the effects of the gradient index, plate aspect ratio, side-to-thickness ratio and elastic foundation parameters on the thermo-mechanical behavior of functionally graded plates. Numerical results show that the present theory can archive accuracy comparable to the existing higher order shear deformation theories that contain more number of unknowns.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.697-711
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• 2021

In this work, a simple quasi 3-D parabolic shear deformation theory is developed to examine the bending response of antisymmetric cross-ply laminated composite plates under different types of mechanical loading. The main feature of this theory is that, in addition to including the transverse shear deformation and thickness stretching effects, it has only five-unknown variables in the displacement field modeling like Mindlin's theory (FSDT), yet satisfies the zero shear stress conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without requiring a shear correction factor. The static version of principle of virtual work was employed to derive the governing equations, while the bending problem for simply supported antisymmetric cross-ply laminated plates was solved by a Navier-type closed-form solution procedure. The adequacy of the proposed model is handled by considering the impact of side-to-thickness ratio on bending response of plate through several illustrative examples. Comparison of the obtained numerical results with the other shear deformation theories leads to the conclusion that the present model is more accurate and efficient in predicting the displacements and stresses of laminated composite plates.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.547-567
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• 2013

Nonlinear behavior of functionally graded material (FGM) plates under thermal loads is investigated here using an efficient sinusoidal shear deformation theory. The displacement field is chosen based on assumptions that the in-plane and transverse displacements consist of bending and shear components, and the shear components of in-plane displacements give rise to the sinusoidal distribution of transverse shear stress through the thickness in such a way that shear stresses vanish on the plate surfaces. Therefore, there is no need to use shear correction factor. Unlike the conventional sinusoidal shear deformation theory, the proposed efficient sinusoidal shear deformation theory contains only four unknowns. The material is graded in the thickness direction and a simple power law based on the rule of mixture is used to estimate the effective material properties. The neutral surface position for such FGM plates is determined and the sinusoidal shear deformation theory based on exact neutral surface position is employed here. There is no stretching-bending coupling effect in the neutral surface-based formulation, and consequently, the governing equations and boundary conditions of functionally graded plates based on neutral surface have the simple forms as those of isotropic plates. The non-linear strain-displacement relations are also taken into consideration. The thermal loads are assumed as uniform, linear and non-linear temperature rises across the thickness direction. Closed-form solutions are presented to calculate the critical buckling temperature, which are useful for engineers in design. Numerical results are presented for the present efficient sinusoidal shear deformation theory, demonstrating its importance and accuracy in comparison to other theories.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.67 no.5
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• pp.527-544
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• 2018

In this paper, the effect of homogenization models on stress analysis is presented for functionally graded plates (FGMs). The derivation of the effective elastic proprieties of the FGMs, which are a combination of both ceramic and metallic phase materials, is of most of importance. The majority of studies in the last decade, the Voigt homogenization model explored to derive the effective elastic proprieties of FGMs at macroscopic-scale in order to study their mechanical responses. In this work, various homogenization models were used to derive the effective elastic proprieties of FGMs. The effect of these models on the stress analysis have also been presented and discussed through a comparative study. So as to show this effect, a refined plate theory is formulated and evaluated, the number of unknowns and governing equations were reduced by dividing the transverse displacement into both bending and shear parts. Based on sinusoidal variation of displacement field trough the thickness, the shear stresses on top and bottom surfaces of plate were vanished and the shear correction factor was avoided. Governing equations of equilibrium were derived from the principle of virtual displacements. Analytical solutions of the stress analysis were obtained for simply supported FGM plates. The obtained results of the displacements and stresses were compared with those predicted by other plate theories available in the literature. This study demonstrates the sensitivity of the obtained results to different homogenization models and that the results generated may vary considerably from one theory to another. Finally, this study offers benchmark results for the multi-scale analysis of functionally graded plates.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.357-386
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• 2016

In this research work, an exact analytical solution for thermal stability of solar functionally graded rectangular plates subjected to uniform, linear and non-linear temperature rises across the thickness direction is developed. It is assumed that the plate rests on two-parameter elastic foundation and its material properties vary through the thickness of the plate as a power function. The neutral surface position for such plate is determined, and the efficient hyperbolic plate theory based on exact neutral surface position is employed to derive the governing stability equations. The displacement field is chosen based on assumptions that the in-plane and transverse displacements consist of bending and shear components, and the shear components of in-plane displacements give rise to the quadratic distribution of transverse shear stress through the thickness in such a way that shear stresses vanish on the plate surfaces. Therefore, there is no need to use shear correction factor. Just four unknown displacement functions are used in the present theory against five unknown displacement functions used in the corresponding ones. The non-linear strain-displacement relations are also taken into consideration. The influences of many plate parameters on buckling temperature difference will be investigated. Numerical results are presented for the present theory, demonstrating its importance and accuracy in comparison to other theories.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.269-282
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• 2018

In this paper, a new displacement field based on quasi-3D hybrid-type higher order shear deformation theory is developed to analyze the static and dynamic response of exponential (E), power-law (P) and sigmoïd (S) functionally graded beams. Novelty of this theory is that involve just three unknowns with including stretching effect, as opposed to four or even greater numbers in other shear and normal deformation theories. It also accounts for a parabolic distribution of the transverse shear stresses across the thickness, and satisfies the zero traction boundary conditions at beams surfaces without introducing a shear correction factor. The beam governing equations and boundary conditions are determined by employing the Hamilton's principle. Navier-type analytical solutions of bending and free vibration analysis are provided for simply supported beams subjected to uniform distribution loads. The effect of the sigmoid, exponent and power-law volume fraction, the thickness stretching and the material length scale parameter on the deflection, stresses and natural frequencies are discussed in tabular and graphical forms. The obtained results are compared with previously published results to verify the performance of this theory. It was clearly shown that this theory is not only accurate and efficient but almost comparable to other higher order shear deformation theories that contain more number of unknowns.